Cermak a visit on my own?” At my suggestion, Ethan’s head shot up, but he didn’t voice an objection.
“Not from us. And CPD doesn’t have to know.
Hey, Chuck’s paging me, so I’ve gotta go. We’ve got a couple of fairies who want him to mediate a property dispute, and I need to upload some docs. We’ll be in touch.”
“Thanks, Jeff,” I said, then tapped off the phone.
The Ops Room was quiet for a moment.
I looked up and around at the vamps in the room. “Any thoughts before I visit our apparent drug pusher?”
“How opposed are you to capital punishment?” Luc growled out.
“I’d prefer not to play judge, jury, and executioner,” I said. “But if you have any strategic or diplomatic suggestions, I’m all for them.”
Ethan patted my back good-naturedly. “Good Sentinel.”
Lindsey escorted me to my room so I could change back into boots and grab my sword. I usually skipped bringing it along on public outings, but Paulie Cermak was quite possibly a drug kingpin, and I was heading to his home turf.
No way was I going on that field trip without steel.
It wasn’t until we were inside with the door shut, Lindsey on my bed while I sat on the floor, sword unsheathed before me to ensure it was in fighting shape, that she made the confession she’d apparently been holding in.
“We made out,” she said.
I wiped the blade down with a sheet of rice paper. “I don’t recall making out with you.”
“I made out with Connor.”
I looked up at her and couldn’t help the disappointment that crossed my face. Connor was a vamp from my Initiate class, a sweet kid with whom Lindsey had been flirting since our Commendation into the House. He was cute and charming in his way . . . but he was no Luc.
“When did that happen?”
“I got back from Temple Bar, and a bunch of us were talking in the downstairs parlor, and then everybody got tired and left. Everybody but him, I mean. And then one thing led to another. . . .”
The blade clean, I resheathed the sword again.
“One thing led to you making out with a newbie vampire?”
“That would appear to be the case.”
What was new, I thought, was the fact that she was chagrined about it. Lindsey wasn’t much of a worrywart, and it wasn’t her style to Monday-morning-quarterback her own decisions. Maybe Luc was making progress.
I tilted my head at her. “So why do you seem weird about it?”
Hands in her lap, shoulders slumped forward guiltily, Lindsey looked away.
I thought of the edge I’d heard in Luc’s voice earlier, and figured out the reason for it. “Luc found out?”
She nodded.
“Crap, Linds.”
“Yeah, crap.” When she looked back at me, a tear slid down her cheek. She wiped it away nonchalantly, but there was no mistaking the guilt in her eyes.
“This thing with Connor—was it a fling? Just because you’d had a really long night?”
“I don’t know what it is. That’s kind of my problem. I’m just—I don’t know—I’m not ready to be in some big”—she swirled her hands in the air—“committed relationship thing.”
“Not ready? You’re over a century old.”
“That is so
I gave her a dubious look. “How could you and Luc become mortal enemies? I’m not sure he even has mortal enemies. Well, other than Celina. And Peter.”
“Definitely Peter,” she agreed, then shrugged.
“I don’t know. It’s just—immortality is a long time. I could be alive a long time, and I’m having a hard time imagining only one guy being a part of that.”
My sword in hand, I stood up, moved to the bed, and sat down beside her. “So bottom line is, no big commitment thing right now.”
“Yeah,” she said sadly.
I hated that for both of them—her for the guilt, him for the heartache. “So what are you going to do?”
“What can I do? Break his heart? Tell him I’m not interested in settling down?” She flopped back on the bed. “This is why I avoided it for so long. Because he’s my boss, and if we tried it and it didn’t work—”
“It was that much more awkward for everyone.”
“Precisely.”
We sat there quietly for a moment.
“So, how about them Cubbies?” she finally asked, fake cheer in her voice.
“Name one current Cubs player.”
“Um, that hot one with the broad shoulders and the soul patch?”
“And that’s what I get for being friends with a damn Yankees fan.”
“I am useless,” she muttered, then pulled a pillow over her face. A muffled, frustrated scream escaped it.
“You’re not useless. Hey, if nothing else, you’re one of the top ten hotties in Cadogan House, right? I’d put you at least in the top three.”
She lifted a corner of the pillow and blew hair from her face. “Really?”
“Really.”
She smiled a little. “You’re the best Sentinel ever.”
Yeah, sometimes I wondered.
Luc and Ethan met me on the first floor again.
“You’ve got your phone in case you need us?”
“I do,” I assured him, patting my jacket pocket. “If the cops didn’t find anything at his house, he probably won’t be territorial enough to start anything. But I will definitely call you if the need arises. Don’t worry—”
“She rather likes being alive,” Ethan finished for me.
“I do,” I said with a smile.
“Keep an eye out for accomplices,” Luc offered. “If he’s truly clean, someone must be doing the dirty work for him. They could be on alert after the CPD sweep.”
“It’s also possible he changed protocols afterwards,” Ethan said.
“I’ll get a good look before I go in. He knows he’s on the watch list, so he probably won’t be that surprised to see me. The bigger question is—if I find him, what do I do with him?”
Ethan arched a suspicious eyebrow.
“I’m not suggesting homicide,” I explained.
“But if the CPD couldn’t find anything, it’s not like I could bring him in.”
“Just get the information you can,” Ethan said, “and stay safe. Don’t worry about engaging him.
We know where he is and how to find him.”
“At least until he bolts,” Luc said.
“And do be back in time for dinner,” Ethan reminded me.
“I remember. I’ll even be back in time to clean up and dress respectably.” I had to—I was heading into a meeting with three House Masters and the head of the GP. There’s no way I was going in there without being dolled
